


Christmas, 1974

by cyrene



Series: Long Live [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Dungeons & Dragons References, Gen, Like 1st edition D&D, Werewolf Swearwolf, and he gets it from his mum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27905836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrene/pseuds/cyrene
Summary: Hope Lupin did everything she could to ensure that Remus Lupin had the best Christmas of his life in 1974.
Series: Long Live [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026196
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	Christmas, 1974

Hope Lupin did everything she could to ensure that Remus Lupin had the best Christmas of his life in 1974.

Everything was going perfectly normal, at first. He had come home for the holidays on the Hogwarts Express, saying goodbye to his friends at the station. Sirius was the last to be picked up, as usual, but that meant they all got to say goodbye to him without his mother’s disapproving glare on them. Remus helped Hope decorate the house, stringing up lights and popcorn on the tree. They decided what they were going to bake on Christmas eve and what could wait until the actual day, and what they would eat for Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning, Remus bounded out of bed way too early and ran down to the living room, the sound of which was enough to wake Lyall, which was enough to wake Hope. Sure enough, there were presents under the tree. He pumped his fist in the air and ran to get his parents up, though he was fourteen and way too old to be this excited.

Hope and Lyall, as they usually did, saved the biggest, best present for last. It was a large wooden box with a carved lid, and inside there were several slim volumes and four sets of dice with seven different dice in each set.

One set was red and with gold swirls and gold numbers, and Hope could see in his eyes that he, like her, saw them and thought: _James_. Sirius’s were grey with lighter grey swirls and silver numbers. Peter’s were blue and green swirled with gold numbers. Remus’s looked like they were made of opals with silver numbers.

“What’s this?” Remus asked, looking at the covers of the books, running his fingers over the cover where, above a drawing of a dragon the book read “Dungeons and Dragons”.

“It’s a game,” Lyall said, eyeing him a little nervously. “Do you like it? It’s not really like any game I’ve ever seen, but your mother thought—”

Remus was flipping through the book labeled “Monsters and Treasure” with an ever-growing grin. “I love it!” he exclaimed, leaping forward to hug his parents. “Can I have my friends over? Please, please, please? The full’s not for another four days!”

“All right,” Hope laughed, “all right. But don’t be surprised if their parents say hell no to that idea; it’s bleeding Christmas after all.”

Remus ran to the fireplace, where he immediately called James first. “James,” he said quickly into the fire, “you’ve got to come over. My parents got me Tolkien _the fucking game_.”

James’s mouth made a huge “o” as he called out behind him, “Mum, Dad, I’m going to the Lupins’ okay?”

“Isn’t it Christmas?” Hope could hear Mrs. Potter ask. “Won’t his family be celebrating?”

“It’s fine!” Remus called back. “My Da said it’s okay!” He jiggled in place, waiting for James to come through so they could call Peter, so they could figure out how they were going to get Sirius over. Hope was a Muggle, after all, and Sirius’s family was not exactly open-minded, she knew.

In the end, it turned out they didn’t have to worry – the Black parents were in France on holiday and had left Sirius home alone as punishment. It was not the punishment Sirius was meant to have, since he had basically spent the holidays doing whatever he pleased, until he got the call from Remus, James, and Peter.

“Hell yeah, I can sneak away,” he said, coming through the fire immediately, wiping the ashes off his ripped black jeans and shaking out his Queen t-shirt. “What’s this new game you’re all on about?”

So, with his friends all gathered around in the living room, Remus explained what he understood so far of the game. “We’re going on an adventure. Three of us are, anyway. One of us has to be the Dungeon Master, the one who’s in charge of the story and all the monsters and shit.”

“Oh, that’s Peter all over,” James said, and Peter flushed with pleasure.

“Good,” said Remus. “You start reading these—” he handed Peter a stack of books – “while we figure out how to make our characters.”

James settled immediately on the Paladin, while Sirius fell in love with the notion of being an elf. Remus took his time, looking through each of the classes and races before settling on being a human wizard. It was all he had ever wanted to be, after all.

Peter spent the time reading the Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and the adventure booklet they had. His eyes were in a permanent widened state, his tongue between his teeth, as he occasionally hissed laughter to himself.

“I’m going to kill all of you!” he crowed. “I am now your god!”

Hope poked her head in through the door. “R.J., do you and your friends want snacks?”

“Mu-um,” Remus rolled his eyes as all his friends teased him mercilessly for his childhood nickname.

“I’ll take that as an absolutely yes,” she said, her eyes sparkling as she took in the scene in front of her. It was honestly more than she could have ever hoped for, when she’d fought for Remus to go to Hogwarts.

“How are they doing?” Lyall asked from where he was waist deep in the fridge, pulling out leftovers for a snack.

“They’re already neck deep in those bloody books.” Hope said with a smile. “They seem to really like him.”

“Of course they do!” Lyall said. “He’s brilliant and cool! I’m just grateful they seem to have gotten over their bizarre fear of me.”

“Do you think they _know_?” Hope whispered.

“Doubt it, sweetheart. R.J. is good at keeping things quiet, but I doubt any of those boys would be able to keep a secret like that.”

“TAKE THAT, GOBLIN SCUM!” James shouted from the living room, as if proving Lyall’s point.

“I just love him so fucking much,” Hope said, wrapping her arms around herself and squeezing. “I just want him to be happy. Well, most of the time. Sometimes I still look at him and wish I could ball him up and shove him back in my uterus. Is that weird? Lyall? _Lyall_? Stop laughing!”

Back in the living room, the battle stopped for a moment at the sound of Lyall Lupin’s thunderous laughter. Everyone politely pretended that Sirius didn’t flinch, the same way they all pretended that they didn’t notice him using Young Master Black’s “company manners” on all their parents.

“I’m moving forward five feet to stand in front of Sirius and James, and casting fireball,” Remus said.

“Roll your D-20,” Peter said, his face unreadable.

“NATURAL FUCKING TWENTY!” Remus slammed his fist down on the floor. “I fireball the _shit_ out of those goblins!”

“You totally do!” Peter laughed so hard he shook. “They’re all dead.”

In the kitchen, Hope punched her husband in the arm. “You’re such a prick, Lyall.”

“You love me anyway,” Lyall insisted.

“That I do,” Hope sassed back, “but it doesn’t change the fucking facts. Prick.”

“MUM, DA!” Remus shouted, as four boys thundered into the kitchen. “Can they stay the night? Please, please, please?”

“We’re in the middle of a huge dungeon, Mrs. Lupin,” James explained as if that meant anything to her, and Hope laughed.

“I suppose,” she said, “I’ll have to get the sleeping bags down. We certainly haven’t got enough beds for all of you!”

“We can sleep in the living room,” Remus said excitedly.

“I’ve never had a sleepover before,” Sirius admitted, looking a little apprehensive.

Hope caught herself wondering what type of awful parents would never let a little boy have a sleepover before she realized that this would be Remus’s first as well. Still, she doubted the Blacks had anything like her excuse.

“It’s going to be amazing!” Peter was reassuring Sirius. “We’ll all eat a bunch of food and listen to all of Remus’s Muggle records, and stay up all night playing Dungeons and Dragons!”

“That does sound cool,” Sirius said with a grin.

“All right,” Hope said, “well, we’ll get out of your hair now, boys.”

“It’s off to Bedfordshire with us,” Lyall agreed, and Remus groaned at the awful joke, shoving his dad out of the kitchen.

“You have to admit,” Lyall said on their way up the stairs, “that Dumbledore really knows what he’s doing, putting those four together.”

“I’d prefer fewer discipline reports,” Hope admitted, “but they’re nice boys.”

They eventually fell asleep that night, for the first time but what would certainly not be the last, to the sound of four boys rolling dice and shouting just below them.


End file.
